1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to managing storage resources on a computer network.
2. Description of the Related Art
For managing storage resources on a computer network, conventionally used addresses locating the storage resources on the network and host computers that use the storage resources have a specific format depending on the type of an interface embodying the network for connecting the host computers and the storage resources. For example, if the interface of the computer network is fiber channels, the address of a host computer is identified by a World Wide Name (WWN) that is unique to the port of the host computer. If the interface is a network running Internet Protocol (IP), the address of a host computer is identified by a Media Access Control (MAC) address that is unique to the network card of the host computer. As an example of prior art of managing such resources using the WWN and MAC addressing, operation of setting a host computer having access rights to a logical volume provided by an on-line storage system will be illustrated below. For example, when a resources manager is allocating a logical volume provided by the storage system to a host computer in connection environment using fiber channels, it sets a port of the storage system for the entry of access requests for the logical volume, gets the WWN of the port of the host computer and the WWN of the above port of the storage system, and registers the mapping between the two WWNs on a switch on the computer network, thus completing the above setting.
Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2001-249769 describes an on-line storage system whose logical volumes can be mapped to the address of a host computer. The technique described in this publication makes it possible to control access rights to the logical volumes as such by using the WWN of a host computer.
In the foregoing previous techniques for on-line resources management, storage systems and host computers are assigned addresses in a specific format depending on the type of a computer network interface connecting the storage systems and host computers. Therefore, it is necessary to use different address schemes for different types of interfaces. As described in the example of setting a host computer having access rights to a logical volume, some previous technique makes the control of the storage resources themselves possible, whereas some previous technique enables only the control of the entry to the storage resources for access thereto, according to the type of storage systems as the storage resources. Consequently, if different types of storage systems as on-line resources exist on a computer network, users need to take notice of different scopes of management for each type of storage systems to manage the resources of the storage systems. This may complicate the management of the resources particularly when many types of storage systems exist on the network. techniques, the challenges to overcome by the present invention are enabling users to manage on-line resources of storage systems on a computer network, independent of the type of the interface embodying the network and the type of the storage systems even when different types of storage systems exist on the network.